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My first foray into webcasting was an amazing example of the thing I tell my kids every single day: “You almost always learn more by making mistakes than by accidentally getting something right.”
Well...I am here to bear witness to that fact. I don’t know if there will EVER be an embed code for the class I wrote, rehearsed, and delivered on WizIQ on the evening of July 29, 2012. There was a vexing program glitch and some user-based-errors that I will address later, but suffice it to say that when I reviewed the recorded webcast, I was a little bit disappointed in how it turned out. More importantly, however, I am excited to do it again, the next time better, and to explore the different ways I could use video to enhance communication with my students and families. It was EASY to see what I needed to do differently. It was FUN. And right now I am very sad (mostly because I just told Mr. Singh to call me at 0700 tomorrow: “I’m six hours behind GMT,” I told him, feeling oh-so-global at that moment and wanting to regain SOME sense of technical dignity). Given that, I should be in bed right now. But, honestly, I learned SO MUCH, that reflecting NOW is just the redemption I need.
Just a note: I was not able to find a way to actually pre-record a webcast as a part of the preparation for the WizIQ program. I did rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse some more...but the actual live webcast was the “first take.” Not being able to give recording a whirl wouldn’t have been that big of a deal...but, it did eventually lead to my using up a great deal of time with connecting the audience, etc....predictable, for sure, but I was so darned nervous about the whole thing that I daftly scheduled it for 30 minutes instead of 60 (presumably, I thought there would be some “penalty” for not using all my minutes?). At the end of 30 minutes, the program politely asked me if I would like to “extend.” I THOUGHT I took it up on the offer, but apparently I didn’t, and it cut me off in the middle of the webcast....WHICH WAS A GOOD THING...because I had spoken for WAY TOO LONG!
The PROCESS:
I did not know where to begin. I had serious doubts about the value of ME doing ANYTHING “on camera.” I’ve been a public speaker for about 30 years now...face-to-face intelligence briefings to the Secretary of the Air Force...that kind of thing. This assignment blew my mind. Perhaps it is the permanence of video. Face-to-face lessons are ephemeral...the mistakes disappear into the air as the presentation goes on. Good, bad, or otherwise, a live speaker walks away from the presentation and doesn’t have to give it a second thought. This one I would have to look at. And, IRONICALLY, that turned-out to be the POSITIVE part. When I went back to review the webcast, I saw myself in a whole new light...and it was a very positive light. I have a very pleasant, fun, approachable affect (not to wax Sally Fields here). I really SHOULD do more video, because I think parents WOULD connect with me in a very good way. I think kids WOULD get something from webcasts I provided. I put many, many fears about my basic professional competence away that night. That was NOT on my “things to learn from suffering through a webcast” list. Not even on my radar screen.
Worrying as I did about my personal contribution to something as weighty as a webcast, I struggled mightily with content. I have so MANY things I would like to webcast...mini math lessons, project guidelines and expectations...weekly newsletters...student-created video newsletters. For some reason (writer’s block), none of those seemed appropriate for this assignment. Still, I had to come up with something, so I decided to just teach. Just teach. I took the project-based learning “driving question” approach and applied it to myself: “How can I as a mentor teacher (which I’m not), help a brand new teacher solve the problem of flat and lifeless narrative writing?” Once I had that “mission,” the actual presentation came together pretty easily. I liked what I put together...I had some engaging photographs and videos of preying mantids eating crickets...I was REALLY fond of a video I found of a wildebeest that actually escaped the crocodile jaws that were clamped around one of his forelegs. It was a GREAT writing lesson...
....but it was a lousy video. What I didn’t know about video until giving it a whirl, was that it really is fast-paced and snappy. That’s probably why we love it so much...we get loads of information in very little time, and we get to move on to the next infobite...very quickly...very efficiently. My webcast (had it recorded completely)...probably would have been 30 minutes...and that would have been okay in a classroom face-to-face, switching back and forth between watching videos and practice writing, responding and reacting to kids. But in the video...it was interminable. As I discovered, I’m not personally a boring speaker, and this particular content has always been highly engaging for my students (my audience said they loved it), but the video seemed to plod. (Because at this point it seems highly unlikely that you’ll be able to see the webcast, the writing lesson focuses on writing from the point of view of the prey...the last three seconds of its life before it disappears into the mouth of a predator. It sounds awful, but the kids are crazy about it.) If I were to actually use a webcast like this to teach, I would have short bursts of video, followed by some action-item for the kids. There is no way I would sit down and record a 30 minute video of me yacking on and on, no matter how enthusiastic I think I sound.
The realization that video has to be fast-paced to be effective supports my thinking about kids making videos to support content knowledge. As project planners, we seem to reflexively default to “students will make a video demonstrating...”. As I was revising a project of this sort a couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that “on-camera personality” is a communication skill all its own, and it has to be specifically modeled, taught, and practiced. We frequently put a video camera in kids’ hands assuming we are being very 21st century...only to get a final product that is flat, lifeless, and not the reflection of content mastery that we were hoping for. Being on camera, for whatever purpose, is role playing, and we need to load kids up with video communication skills just as we load them up with written communication skills. My own webinar speaks to that...video is a format that has a set of “rules” just like paragraph writing does, and we need to address those if we expect kids to produce high-quality products of their own. And I do expect that. Now I have to explicitly teach it. How fun will it be for them...I access this webinar and show them how I tried something new, and didn’t do so great...how could they help me? Hmmm...maybe I’m just a little happy this didn’t go so well...
Heeding your admonishment to reflect richly, I kept copious notes as this project went along. As I go back and look, I read that I was “not crazy” about WizIQ. I chose it because I could use what skills I already had to put together a presentation...namely slides and videos with a talking head. Now that I’ve done this, and no one got hurt, I feel confident about working with other platforms, and I have assigned that to myself as my “professional next step.”
WizIQ itself was really pretty simple to use as I intended for this project. I ended up making “scripted” slides, which isn’t really what I wanted to do. I like a more spontaneous, organic approach to creating and annotating slides, but the “pen” function was delayed and rough, and really detracted from the overall quality of the presentation, so I scrapped it. A “natural appearing” pen function is my top priority in exploring other webcasting platforms. I suspect that what I really want requires the addition of some specific hardware, but I will find out, and perhaps my school will purchase something along these lines (and I can check off “technology leadership” on my evaluation). The ability to pre-record and review was not on my mind as I struggled to develop content and gain confidence...I assumed that I could do that, and in the end, couldn’t. I also do not like WizIQ because you cannot go back and re-do a class without rebuilding it from the ground up. When I got the hook at the 30 minute point, I thought, “No big deal...I’ll go back, change the duration setting, and do this again.” My audience was game...it seemed like a no brainer, but it was not to be. It is not really in me to knowingly turn-in something that doesn’t reflect my best effort...so I guess I’ll have to accept that this is my “best effort” for this project.
The TAKEAWAYS:
- I am not a lousy teacher
- Video needs to be fast and snappy to be effective
- “On camera” presence and communication are specific skills that need to be modeled, taught, and practiced just like written communication and face-to-face communication skills are taught and practiced. I will stop using the term “news bunnies.”
- Desirable attributes of webcasting platforms include:
- natural pen function
- pre-record and preview function
- re-record function
- simple sharing
- responsive on-line assistance (WizIQ definitely has this, and I used it extensively. I included a screen shot of one of my on-line troubleshooting chats. My most recent troubleshooting session [getting the embed code] introduced me to TeamViewer. I watched dumbfounded as Mr. Singh hijacked my entire computer from 10,000 miles away...I didn’t get a screen shot...I didn’t even have control of my cursor.)
- free or inexpensive subscription rate
- adequate creative functions at low subscription rates
- minimal add-on hardware or software
- intuitive interface
5) Videocasting is fun, and even old people can do it.
I have included screen shots of my class so you can see that I actually did build slides, and I actually did conduct a webinar. Maybe at 0700, Mr. Singh and I will get a realistic embed code posted, but I’m not holding my breath.
Speaking of flat and lifeless affect...I guess, if your whole face is bone,
you don't have a lot to work with in the expressiveness department. Also...I was lost in the accent and didn't hear the expletive at the end...very subtle. Well, SOMEONE had to say it!
Still photography:
Lam, Charles (2008). Preying mantis head. Wikipedia commons. Retrieved from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Close-up_of_preying_mantis_head.jpg moreguefile. (2008 and 2009). Boy writing; girl writing; Retrieved from: morguefile.com
Video:
kingorami, (2009). Wildebeest escapes crocodile. YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV2WDmflDuo
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